[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h5xf31C.png[/img][/center][hr][i][b]//Night 1 | Location:[/b] Nameless Forest - Lakeside[/i]
[sub][@AThousandCurses][@baraquiel][@Nakushita][@Yankee][@Vertigo][/sub]
As the Awakened students said their own individual pieces, most of the others’ attention was naturally drawn towards the near-manic ramblings that Ayana was spewing out. It must be the general insanity of their situation though, that prevented anyone from simply dismissing what she had to say. After all, there were three people who could attest to Asahi’s healing powers, and almost everyone had seen the projected lines coming out from Rin’s fingertips, slicing through trees as if they were paper. At this point, everyone knew that literal magical powers were becoming a reality, and everyone similarly had different opinions on their usage.

Maki, freshly restored and feeling just a slight bit vengeful towards the monsters, clenched her fist, smacking it against her knee as she sat cross-legged before the smouldering firepit. [b]“Shun’s the only one making sense here,”[/b] she said, nodding towards the scooter-girl. [b]“Solves all our problems, right? We get more meat, more weapons, and make the area around us safer too. Reduces the emergencies!”[/b]

[b]“It isn’t something we can all do though.”[/b] Hana responded, affixing her neutral gaze upon Maki. [b]“These monsters hunt in groups, but we can’t split up like they can.”[/b]

[b]“Which is why we need proper weapons! I could get the drop on them, at least the normal-sized ones! And, Kunio, you did that thing, right?”[/b] Maki gesticulated, energetically stabbing at an invisible monster. [b]“With more of them, we can all do that!”[/b]

Kunio shrugged. Then, in a typically unashamed tone, he said, [b]“No you can’t. That’s just me.”[/b]

Which was fair enough, but was the spark that would’ve ignited a wholly pointless argument, if Daisuke didn’t set a heavy hand on Maki’s head. [b]“Alright, moving on here!”[/b] His voice carried well enough. [b]“More than one person on night watch sounds good, but I’m going to be honest here: not all of us are gonna be all that good for watching things at night. I’d say doing it in pairs or threes should be enough, yeah? Just need people facing opposite directions. The rest of us can just rest up better and work harder in the morning.”[/b]

[b]“I can cover the first watch,”[/b] Sohei volunteered. [b]“With Rin.”[/b]

[b]“Oh,”[/b] Ayano grinned. Boys were so cute when they were obvious with it. [b]“Well, I’m not doing it at all, especially not tonight. Didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, and there’s no way I’m going to do that again!”[/b]

Haruko shook her head. She got along well enough with Ayano, but the girl could really be self-centered at the most inappropriate times. [b]“I can help with the second watch with Duncan then.”[/b]

Ayano’s grin grew wider. [b]“Ah, the moon hasn’t even risen yet! Make sure yo-”[/b]

[b]“Back on track,”[/b] Hiroshi drawled, clapping his hands together. [b]“Asahi brought up a good point. We need to get our bearings properly. Obviously, it’s important to get an idea of other resources nearby, and I don’t think it’d be too hard for our [i]stronger[/i] classmates to climb up on one of the trees, but we do need a higher vantage point than that. Think about it. This is another world, but whose to say that there aren’t other people in this world?”[/b] His teeth flashed, a flicker of mania. [b]“Whose to say there isn’t civilization?”[/b]

[b]“The mountain,”[/b] Juro pointed, towards the landmark whose jagged peaks scraped the heavens. But his voice was quiet and even, compared to Rin, who was also even-voiced but definitely not quiet, as she said, [b]“I can build a catapult. We can launch Shun up.”[/b]

[b]“Uh…”[/b] Kumi raised her hand, feeling a bit sheepish. [b]“Sorry about talking about food again, ehehehe…but Kogen went off today and did some hunting himself. I think that if it’s just, uh, the special students here, maybe just one or two or three of them could go out and do that monster fighting thing?”[/b]

[b]“Are we even sure that the monsters will come back?”[/b] Mayumi spoke up. [b]“There’s an argument for their intelligence, so now that we’ve proven that we could harm them without them…”[/b] She paused, catching Tsubasa’s warning glance. [b]“…well, basically, what I’m saying is that if they’re hunters, we’ve proven that we’re more trouble that we’re worth. We, what, killed four of their pack?”[/b]

Sasuke, ever so serene, brought up the counterpoint. [b]“Injury inspires retaliation, even when such injury was a consequence of their offence.”[/b]

The pale-skinned treasurer raised a brow. [b]“You think they’re [i]that[/i] intelligent? That they become stupid again?”[/b]

[b]“We’ve been calling them monsters the entire time. Why treat them like animals?”[/b]

Hiroshi’s mouth opened, a silent ‘yo damnnnn’ flashing over his perpetually shit-stirring expression.

Gradually the rest of the students began discussing amongst themselves as well, going over the points for and against any of the proposals that were brought up. The hubbub continued for a good while, never reaching the fever-pitch of thrown hands and hysteric voices, but still, there was an elephant remaining that none of them were addressing.

[b]“Fine, fine,”[/b] Akito sneered. [b]“I’ll be the asshole.”[/b]

His eyes turned towards Ayana.

[b]“Right, dunno what your damage is here, but this cultist shit is real fucking weird. We’re all in the same boat here, so if you know what’s safe and all, Ayana? Just tell us. I’ll ‘embrace the truth’ once its actuall proven to be a real thing. Got it?”[/b]